


HorrorTron

by writerjo159



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Lance (Voltron), M/M, Minor Keith/Lance (Voltron), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-04 15:09:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21199703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writerjo159/pseuds/writerjo159
Summary: The Paladins knew being a part of Voltron was quite scary, but never quite thought they'd ever be prisoner to a planet that runs on the fears of the people~~a subtle voltron 'horror' story





	1. Haunt

**Author's Note:**

> Not necessarily meant to be a 'scary' fic, but it definitely does have creepy/dark elements. Enjoy~

The tension, like a black cloud, suffocated team Voltron on the castle-ship today as Allura and Coran explained a dangerous mission to a mysterious planet.

"Haunt." Coran said dramatically as he twirled his mustache. "The planet used to have another name, but it hasn't been used in deca-phoebs." 

"They say it's bad luck to even say it's original name. Many don't even remember it." Allura explained further.

"Well that's reassuring." Lance snorted, but a slight fear was definitely present in his voice. "What's so bad about the planet?"

"It all started back on Altea. A group of brave Altean's went to the planet, but only one returned to tell the story of horror to the rest of Altea-"

"Oh hush Coran! That was an old Altean legend!" Allura rolled her eyes. "But for years the planet has had a horrible energy within it. And the people who go there don't return. This is why we need Voltron."

"Wait so everyone who goes there dies? And now we're going over there?" Hunk asked wearily. He was definitely the most frightened over this, but the others were definitely concerned as well.

"We need to know what happened to all those people. Voltron is the only one strong enough to retrieve all those people." Allura explained. "The myth tells stories of horror and demons but none of which are true."

The paladins looked at Coran for confirmation, but he only shrugged and winked. _Great_. 

Shiro sighed before clasping his hands together. "Alright team, it's important that we stick together on this mission. We don't know what we're up against." He said as a minimalistic pep talk. If they were just legends, everything would be fine and it'd be a quick mission, but nothing had been that easy in a while. He couldn't promise that everything would be fine, but he can make an effort to reassure them.

"So, we're going to Keith's home planet? Do you think there's more scary mullets there?" Lance asked playfully, pretending to shield his eyes in horror. "God, even one mullet is too many."

"Haha." Keith deadpanned boredly, rolling his eyes. "As if that joke isn't old."

Hunk and Pidge desperately held in their laughs as they nodded in agreement. "Yeah, totally not funny, Lance." Pidge commented, laughter altering her voice.

Shiro smiled at the scene, Lance always had a way of lightening the mood, a feat that Shiro wasn't always the best at. It was different from being the "class clown", Lance had the ability to calm someone down as quick as he could rile them up- Shiro appreciated that. "For the sake of Keith's feelings, we're going to pretend it wasn't funny." Shiro put his hand beside his mouth to block his lips, but purposely said it loud enough for the red paladin to hear.

"Shiro-" Keith started to complain, but was immediately interrupted by Allura.

"There's a large surge of dark energy on Haunt right now, it happens every so often. It's strange, but perhaps there's a reason for it." Allura steered the conversation back on track. "Do not stay there for long. Simply explore, see if there are any inhabitants of the planet and if they know what's going on with it." 

The team nodded firmly, surprisingly feeling slightly better about the voyage. They got anything they felt they'd need for the mission before going into their lions, fully suited and equipped with their bayards. Once Allura steered the ship close enough to the planet, she reported back to the paladins. "We're now in range of the planet." She announced, signalling that they could now take off.

The lions launched out of the castle, immediately flying closer to the planet's atmosphere. "There's a chance that your helmet communication devices may not work on the planet due to interference. If you need to contact us, the communicators in the lions should still function." Allura informed the team. 

"Okay, thanks Allura." Shiro thanked her, and Lance decided to outshine his leader. "Thank you, Princess. If we save the day, I think I deserve a victory kiss." He made kissy sounds into the microphone, causing his teammates to make gagging and disgusted sounds.

"Stop, you're scaring Shiro. He's only six-"

"Pidge!" Shiro interrupted sternly, internally regretting telling the team his birthday. "Let's just focus on the mission."

"Someone's cranky."

"I think he needs a nap."

Keith couldn't help but to laugh at the new running gag that Shiro was a child. He knew Shiro's birthday was on a leap year, but had never thought about his age like that. Shiro groaned as the other paladins errupted in laughter. Although the team leader pretended to be annoyed, he couldn't seem to reject the smile that made its way onto his lips.

The lions landed on the planet, the quiet and dark planet. It was pretty spooky, Lance could admit, but it didn't look like anyone was even there. Maybe it was just a legend. "It looks kinda lame." Lance snorted, and Pidge agreed. "Yeah, I was expecting zombies or something."

"I don't like it." Hunk shuddered. "It's creepy."

"Okay Allura, we're here. We're going to leave our lions now." Shiro informed the princess, who gave approval to his plan. The paladins got out of their lions, the lack of gravity causing a slight pull as they made their way to the ground. The gravity wasn't as strong as Earth's, but it was fine enough to walk normally. The planet was deathly quiet, and all plants looked dried and dead.

"_Boo._" Lance said from behind Keith, surprisingly getting a scared reaction from the boy. Lance immediately howled in laughter, imitating Keith's reaction and laughing even harder. "Aw don't tell me Keithy is scared." Lance tickled the red paladin, who retaliated by hitting the blue paladin on the head. "Shut up." Keith huffed, slightly embarrassed that he actually reacted.

"So your only emotions are anger and _fear._" Lance said in awe. "I learn more about you every day."

The light mood was quickly silenced by the sound of a distant scream. "Is anyone there?" Shiro called out, but there was no response. "Let's go."

"Go? Go where?" Hunk panicked.

"Maybe he's one of the Alteans that were captured." Keith used his jet boosters to accelerate forward. "We have to help."

The paladins followed closely, but the one scream turned into two. The screams began to get louder until they were positive they were at the origin of the sound. But no one was there.

"You must leave." A soft voice came from behind them. The figure looked like a shadow, except it was three dimensional. They had long wavy hair that fell in front if their face. "Please go."

"Do you live here?" Shiro asked gently, slowly inching towards the feminine figure. "Are you okay?"

Lance too walked closer to the shadow woman, hands up in surrender. "We're here to help you."

The long hair moved to either side of her face as she lifted her head. Her skin was a dark blue, with star-like features illuminating her cheekbones and forehead. Her soft eyes looked hurt as she quickly ran to the blue paladin. "Leave! Please. He'll find you."

Lance put both hands on the shadow woman's shoulders as he tried to calm her down. "It's okay. We're Voltron. We're here to help you."

Keith stepped forward as well, putting himself beside the blue paladin. "Do you know who was screaming?" He asked the woman, who seemed to be too panicked to hear him.

The ground shook and the shadow woman screamed. "He's coming." She whispered, eyes wide with horror. "I have to go-"

"Hey, wait-" Lance said as he gripped onto her arm seconds before the ground opened. He heard his team scream as they fell before all sounds suddenly stopped, their unconscious bodies falling silently around him. Pidge was the only one with their helmet still on, but everyone's breathing seemed to normal. He was still awake, but tired. His eyes fell heavy, and he too, was unconscious.

~~~

"Another power surge on Haunt." Allura seemed to worry. "Probably ten times worse than the last one."

"They would contact us if anything went wrong." Coran tried to calm down the young princess. "They should be back in less than a varga."

"And if they're not?"

"They'll be fine, Allura. Unless they get eaten by an angry weblum." Coran joked, but Allura didn't laugh. It was clear she worried for the paladins as she sat silently, waiting for an update from the team.

~￦~

Lance woke up slowly, nearly losing the lengthy battle to consciousness as he groaned and rolled over. He looked around in an attempt of determining where he was, but the decor refused to assist him as it was a bare grey. He stood up, but his legs failed to hold himself up. He collapsed onto the ground, the pain in his legs shot through his nerves causing shocked tears to form in the boy's eyes. Even then, his high pain tolerance allowed him to still move his legs around without putting pressure on them. God, he was starving too. He decided it was better for him to sit on the floor until he could muster up the strength to properly snoop around.

It looked like some sort of hospital, he managed to deduce. He was leaned up against what looked like a standard hospital bed, with surgical tools on the bedside. Looked kinda shady, if you asked him.

He tried to wiggle his toes, a simple test to see if he could even _think_ about walking, but was quite disappointed at the small movement he received. Quiznak. How long had he been out for?

He used his arm strength to pull himself back onto the bed, looking around for anything he could use to communicate with his team. Dammit, when they fell, everything must've messed up. If they're in here, he has to find them.

"Paladin!" A voice shrieked as the doors flew open. The petite woman from before flew in, long black hair almost alive as it swirled around. She grabbed Lance, the stars on her face shaded in black. "Do you know what you've done?"

Lance winced at her tight grip, pulling away weakly. "What are you talking about? All we did was get quiznaked by your planet." He groaned as he massaged his shoulders. The woman gripped him tighter, emotions obviously strong. "You trapped me in your eternal nightmare. My consciousness is two places at once and I can't manage them both-"

"My _what?_" Lance interrupted, hoping he didn't hear her correctly. "Eternal nightmare." She confirmed, hair settling as she calmed. "Our planet is fueled on fears, so anyone who comes must feed our planet for the rest of their lives- ensuring the planet will never die." She explained as she paced the room. "But _you_. When you grabbed me, you pulled in a part of my consciousness. He'll know. He'll find out and he'll come for the both of us-"

"Who?" Lance asked, not quite understanding what the woman was talking about. She turned to him, timid persona long disappeared as she huffed. "The master, of course. He runs this planet. If I allow Voltron to escape, he'll kill me." Her voice went into a whisper as she thought quietly. "But he doesn't know that _you're_ here. Perhaps I could use you to free us both. Paladin, allow me to use your mind."

Lance's head pounded, that lady was talking _too_ much for him to follow along. "Hell no." Was all he managed, lying back down on the bed. "Not until you give me a good explanation of what's going on."

The woman nodded quickly, understanding the transaction immediately. "Your friends were sent to their own nightmares, each within their own minds. If all went well, they should have the ability to stay for a lifetime without disturbance or memory anomalies. After taking hold on a person, we go into their mind, nervous system, and all their memories, connect them all to me to provide the simulated reality which causes the most fear for a person. But you, since you held onto me, you were brought _here_. Inside _your_ head but it does contain some of _my_ knowledge. We are connected in our minds- what you fear, I fear. If you die, I die. Right now, you are untraceable by my master as you are not contributing to the planet's food supply." She explained formally, about to continue before Lance interrupted.

"Wait, wait. So this...is in my head?"

"Yes. You can alter things but only a limited amount, it is still a nightmare after all."

Lance didn't exactly follow, but he decided he'll ask questions when he got to that point. He turned to the bedside, realizing that if he could alter 'reality', he could become a superhero. He attempted to raise the plate of surgical tools with his mind, but it ultimately failed. "I thought you said I could alter things." He pouted, disappointed.

"Well, that's only if you're as powerful as me. And considering you have no experience, you definitely won't be able to alter it right away. Perhaps in a few months-"

"Months?" Lance scoffed. "C'mon, maybe we don't need powers to beat this thing." He winced as he hopped off the bed, but his legs managed to hold himself up this time around. "Are you doing this? Controlling my nerves or whatever to make my legs hurt?"

"Oh...After the fall, we place patients in an old Altean pod which we have enhanced to heal, but also has the ability to injure any of the subjects, giving us full control over them. If I didn't control the severity of the nightmare, the subjects would die of heart attacks and such. If I'm not focused, our supply goes down severely as some's imaginations are unbearable to even themselves, which is why I must leave quickly. I must be focused." She explained easily, sticking her hand out and healing Lance's legs. "I'm the only one who can control these fears."

They left the room as the woman continued to babble about the situation. Her master would _this_\- and then he would _that_, but if you asked Lance, he seemed kinda lame. The woman, Anael, basically powered the entire mechanism of this crazy planet, following his instructions blindly. "So, can you get us out of here?"

"I can't do much from inside. You need to lead us to the exit." Her voice lowered, as if she were somehow ashamed that her powers couldn't just zap them out of there. "But you can still contact your team, right? Using that lion-mind-communication thingy?" Her eyes shine with hope, fascination close behind.

"The psychic plane in the consciousness of the lions? You've heard about that?" The boy in blue had a certain disappointed tone of his voice. How does she even know about that? That place was cursed in his books. He wasn't sure if it was because he couldn't access it willingly or because of the last time he had to use that thing...when Shiro-

The lights flickered, goosebumps forming on Lance's arms. Anael bowed as she apologized. "I didn't mean to cause you stress, Paladin! Please forgive me." Her perfect bow made it was evident she's practiced this for many years. "It's just- being in here I can feel their presence as well. You all have a common space within your minds and it's amazing. I apologize if I resurfaced bad memories. That was not my intention-" Lance lightly pushed her shoulders back up so that she would be standing straight. "Don't worry about it. Just...intrusive thoughts, I guess." Lance thought about her words- the _common space_. How would he even get there? Maybe one of the others will access it to be able to pull the rest out. If he failed so badly last time, he wouldn't be surprised if Blue banned him from the plane altogether. 

"I hope you aren't very imaginative, Paladin. Something may eat us before we get you into the psychic plane." She giggled, but Lance could tell that she wasn't joking. "Um- you see, the thing is-" Lance tried, but was interrupted by the surge of light coming from Anael's stars on her cheekbones.

"Ah, my master is looking for me to start with your friends' nightmares... Which means my body has awoken and strayed further away from yours. My entrapment powers still work, but I may not appear to be myself in this nightmare, even though my mind and memories are still connected to yours. I'm there, but I'm also here, so it may ruin some aspects of the dream, making it worse as I'm not here to control the harshness-" Before she could even finish explaining, everything before Lance's eyes glitched.

~~~

_"Voltron..."_ The deep voice hummed, analyzing the successful catch before turning to his assistant. She looked distant, nearly lost in her own body before she quickly snapped back into it.

_"Y-Yes."_ A soft voice replied, trying to hide her need to gasp for air as if she'd been drowning.

_"How interesting... It's a shame the blue paladin will have to miss out..."_

_"What...will you do to them?"_ The soft voice shook as she asked the question. She could feel it. She could feel her heart rate rise as Lance's did. She had never felt fear before- and didn't want too. She tried to distance herself even further from him and the horrid feeling, seemingly forgetting the consequences of forgetting about a subject.

_"Treat them no differently from the others. Their fears will come true and we will flourish. Their quintessence and fears will fuel our planet for generations."_

~~~

Once again, regaining consciousness was a laborious process, like trying to swim to the surface of a lake full of molasses. This time, his arms are bound above his head, and his ankles were bound to whatever he was lying on, it seemed. Clearing his vision was a much more challenging task this time around, as even blinking repeatedly refused to help him see. There was a harsh light pouring over him that wasn't above the bed before. In fact, that bed had been rather soft compared to this slab of metal. When he shifted to test his bonds, pain lit up in his left side, rather than his previously injured legs.

He craned his neck for a better look at his side, granting him a better view of the slash marks just below the ribs of his armour. It was stained with a still-wet red, indicating that he was definitely still bleeding.

He knew he wouldn't be able to get out easily this time. The door slid open, causing Lance to look hopefully for Anael to return to lighten the severity of the generated fear. She had warned him that his situation would get worse when her other half wasn't focused on lightening his load- but rather worsening his friends', but he didn't expect _this._

A man, dark as a shadow much like Anael, but with stars spotted all along his body, up to his finger tips. His broad shoulders loomed over the blue paladin, but Lance managed to keep his composure despite his racing heart.

"Morning, Paladin."

Apparently, his nightmare was just getting started.


	2. Green and Yellow

P̢̳̝̹͎̙̟i̼̯̪̩͍d̬̩̳̮̱͕͓ge̖̫͝

_"Easy scare." The deep voice described as if he was inputting setting into a computer. "Family driven but hasn't felt a true tragedy. Things always turn out her way in the end. Fragile and young."_

~￦~

"Pidge!" A male voice called to her, waking her out of her rest. She was in her green paladin suit, but her lion was out of sight. She looked up to see her brother. "Matt?" She called back. Her head was throbbing in pain and confusion. She couldn't remember anything leading up to this. "What happened?"

Her brother scrambled to her side, panting and sweaty. He took Pidge's helmet off her head and the brightness caused her to cover her eyes. As her eyes adjusted she looked up to her brother, he was bloody and tears threatened to escape his glassy eyes. "Matt?" She called to him again, her voice now wavering. Her brother struggled to catch his breath, even he didn't know how long he'd been running for. Pidge sat up quickly, hugging her brother tightly as he sobbed. Her eyes watered as her brother cried. She looked around, blue sky and green grass that looked all too familiar.

She was on Earth.

Was she supposed to be on Earth? She couldn't remember. But Galra fighter jets flew over her head, shooting onto the ground. Suddenly, it struck her. "The Galra? They're here? Where's Voltron?" She gasped.

"They're all gone. I'm even surprised I found you here, if I'm honest." Matt's voice was flat, void from all previous emotions. "Zarkon, he..." His voice trailed off as he stood up. "Get up." He grabbed his sister's arm and led her towards a nearby building. Before Pidge could ask any questions, a large explosion shook the ground. Pidge whimpered as the heat from the explosion attacked her face. "What the fuck is going on? Where's mom and dad? Where's Shiro?" Pidge's voice shook as she struggled to take in the events that was going on. "Matt!"

"What does it look like, Pidge? The Galra are here, Voltron died _months_ ago. Dad... Dad's gone too. We don't stand a chance against them alone." Matt bit his lip to suppress the emotions that tried to overcome him. "The rebels are struggling. There's barely anyone left."

"Pidge!" A female voice called before wrapping her in a warm hug. It was her mother's voice but something wasn't right.

Her mother never called her Pidge.

_Error. Memory anomaly. Helmet interference. Creating new trauma..._

Pidge woke up to her alarm clock, blaring through her already aching head. She rolled out of bed lazily, slipping on her scattered sheets of homework. She looked at the papers closely, it wasn't anything she hadn't learned already. Her head pounded as she tried to focus on the words, so she quickly stopped trying to read the papers in detail. She went into the bathroom to take a quick shower and brush her teeth, coming out a while later to put on her uniform.

It felt like a weird sort of muscle memory, she did this everyday, yet it seemed as if she couldn't remember what she needed to do next. She opened her bag, silently cursing that it was empty. Why couldn't she remember what classes she had? What day was it? Why-

Her head pounded harder, a wave of fear coming over her before leaving just as quickly. "Oh yeah." She shook her head as she put her empty binders into her bag. It was the first day of her second year at the Garrison.

She opened the door to her room, pleasantly surprised by the smell of pancakes coming from the kitchen. "Mom, my head hurts." Pidge whined as she sat down at the table.

"Maybe you're stressing about your first day too much." Her mom reassured her. "Lance and Hunk are probably waiting for you already. You shouldn't keep your friends waiting, _Katie_."

Pidge nodded as she began to eat her pancakes. Everything seemed normal, but too normal. Her head ached again. What is she talking about? How could something be _too normal?_ She shook her head as she quickly ate her pancakes, slinging her bag over her shoulder once she was finished. She waved her mom goodbye before leaving.

She was in the Garrison hallway, and felt strange about how she knew where to go and what to do- but her head hurt too much for her to analyze it. She turned the corner, immediately excited when she saw the mullet haired boy. "Keith!" She called out, but he only looked at her and waved awkwardly before walking away.

Right. Her and Keith only knew each other through Matt and Shiro, why would she call out to him? But she felt like she knew him, it was a weird feeling. She walked to class, head pounding but she needed to think. Why did everything feel so weird? Everything was normal, but her life was missing pieces that she couldn't put together.

"Pidge!" Lance's voice called from behind her. The boy seemed out of breath as he and Hunk jogged to the girl. "I think she's deaf." Hunk panted, stopping to catch his breath.

She?

_￦°￦ Helmet interference with memories. Rerouting..._

Yeah, Pidge had told Lance and Hunk that she was a girl. It felt as though someone else was reminding her rather than her own brain. "Last one to class has to clean the dorm for a week." Lance exclaimed before dashing towards the classroom, Hunk following close behind him. It took Pidge a second to begin running as well, feeling as though something was off with her memories, but it didn't matter now. 

"Pidge! You're late." Pidge heard upon her arrival, but she had come in at about the same time as Lance and Hunk. She received many glares, but wasn't sure why. They had flight simulation right now, she had more important things to worry about- She was a _horrible_ pilot. 

Pidge knew she wasn't the best at flying, but no one had ever said it to her. She flew off course early on, her memory betraying her. It was nothing like flying a lion.

A _what_? Lions don't fly. This headache was beginning to get to her. She snapped out of it when she was pushed by Keith, who seemed angry at her.

"You got me out!" Keith yelled. "Learn how to fly!" He hissed.

"What?" She asked more to herself than to Keith. Why was he yelling at her? With Matt and Shiro gone, her and Keith should be sticking together. Why was he-

"Maybe if you weren't so focused on pretending to be a boy, you'd actually pay attention in class." Keith pushed her again, but this time onto the ground. Keith and Pidge had always gotten along, hadn't they? Pidge couldn't remember- but she knew Keith never called her Katie. Even if Shiro had told him, he hadn't made it known that he knew of her true identity.

"Keith..."

"Shut up, _Katie._"

The classroom got deathly quiet before erupting with noise. Rumours immediately being thrown around- _She just wanted to be in the guys room- Eww i always knew she was weird- I heard she likes Lance-_

Pidge looked to Hunk and Lance, her best friends, to say something, _anything_. But they looked away from her, striking confusion in the young paladin. This wasn't normal. It felt like a dream rather than reality. Certain things not adding up and the whole situation was unrealistic. Her conscious believed it but something in the back of her head _knew_ that this wasn't really happening. Like a weird dream that occurs when you're on the cusp of awakening from a long slumber.

But suddenly the confusion was swapped with a painful fear, a wave of anxiety that seemed artificial almost- but she was scared nonetheless. Pidge ran out of the classroom, stumbling on her steps as she panicked. She didn't get far before she bumped into a tall figure, brown coffee spilling to her left as the person grunted on impact. She looked up- prepared to apologize before she saw the mans face. "Adam!" She cried, hugging the man's waist tightly. "I'm so glad you're-"

"Katie, please. I don't have the time or energy to deal with this right now." Adam interrupted. He sounded tired, mentally exhausted by life. But he's _been_ tired. Ever since Shiro left. "I know, but I-" Pidge tried again before being pushed away by her teacher. She stumbled back at the gesture, not quite sure what had happened because it was _Adam_. Adam was heartbroken and tired and hurting inside but he never showed it- definitely never pushing her away when she needed help.

_Error...Memory anomaly...Helmet interference...Error_

This...wasn't right. That Pidge knew. Her memories of reality failing her, not remembering Adam's personality. It was as if he glitched and was going under repairs but Pidge could see it this time. There was a puppet master somewhere. She no longer flinched when Adam yelled at her because this _wasn't_ Adam.

"Shiro's okay, Adam. Don't worry ." She offered him those words of comfort, even though she knew he couldn't really hear her. It's what she'd tell Adam right now if she could, anyway. She could hear a voice in the background- not Adam's, but familiar.

Now, she just needed a way to get out of this place.

~~~

_"I'm sorry. Her- Her head gear interfered-"_

_"She's smart, she saw right through your projection, but she's still trapped here . Her quintessence will be enough until the pod will wipe her memory and you can try again."_

Hu̠̺͙ṇ̝͓̙̭͇̲͜k͏̠

_Just as easy as the last. Emotional, cares too much, fears losing his bond with his team the most._

_Generating..._

Hunk's head spun as he woke up, heavy eyelids fighting against the unconsciousness that so badly wanted to come over him. He sat up, memories slowly coming back to him, but only what he needed. He was on 'Haunt' and seemed to be alone, hopping up at the realization. _Alone?_ He was with his team no longer than a minute ago. It was dark and scary- things moving in the dark and whispers in the distance. He grabbed for his bayard but it wasn't there. 

He recalled watching all those stupid horror movies with Lance and Pidge at 3 in the morning. Yelling at the characters for being absolute idiots through the screen, saying how they'd do it differently. But _something_ was rattling that bush and Hunk had to find out whether it was good or bad. So he did the unthinkable.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" He shouted into the endless darkness. The bush suddenly stopped rattling, only for it to rustle once more before a figure emerged. As much as Hunk wanted to scream, he figured it was best to not let whatever demon was there to know he was terrified.

The figure finally got close enough to make out, Hunk letting out a sigh of relief. "Oh Lance, buddy! You're the last person I thought I'd see. Where is everyone?"

"Last person you thought you'd see?" Lance scoffed, giving Hunk an uncharacteristic glare. "What, you thought I'd be dead by now?"

Hunk raised an eyebrow. "Uh, no. I meant I was expecting a demon alien monster. Why would you think I meant anything else?"

Lance snorted at Hunk's question, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn't respond though, turning around and beginning to walk away. Hunk staggered a bit, still unsure of what was going on, but followed anyway. "You okay, buddy?" He asked Lance, who was currently uncharacteristically quiet and irritated.

"Since when did you care?"

Hunk stopped in his tracks, taking a step back in shock. "You're not Lance-"

"Why? Because I'm standing up for myself?" Lance scoffed. "I'm sick of this planet- and I'm fucking tired of you and Pidge making fun of me all the time-"

"Hey, hey...just calm down man. Allura said this place messes with people's minds, right? Did they stick some mumbo jumbo in your head?" Hunk joked, but his smile was filled with worry as he slowly approached his frustrated friend. "You're alright, buddy."

"No- I- you're not _listening!_" Lance almost shouted, and Hunk could hear more rustling in the bushes. His heart rate was racing. "Lance, whatever it is, I'm sorry. But we can't do this right now-"

"You're not _fucking_ sorry. You and Pidge always make me out to be the butt of the joke. I'm always the dumb one, and even as a paladin you don't even believe in me. I just-"

"Lance. Stop it. We do believe in you. We care so much about you, just please-" Hunk took another step closer to Lance, carefully as if he were a bomb set to explode. "Calm down, we'll get out of here." He tried to reassure his best friend. He wasn't really sure what had sent Lance off, but he wanted to prevent an outburst at all costs. They had to work together if they wanted to find the others.

Lance gave Hunk an accusing look that can only be described as 'Are you serious?' as he just shook his head. "Whatever. As long as we make it out of here." Lance muttered, crossing his arms over his chest once again. Hunk raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't believe in the stories Coran was telling?" He asked as they walked.

"Dude, are you kidding? This place is definitely haunted. And there's a bunch of creepy alien things running around." Lance informed as he looked over his shoulder, ensuring that they were safe. "They're everywhere. I don't know what sets them off yet, but they definitely have some sort of trigger that causes them to attack."

"Wow, dude. You kinda sounded like Pidge just then." Hunk joked, giving a small exhale of both laughter and fear as he contemplated on whether that was a bush or an alien on his left.

Lance shook his head, looking at Hunk with an angry expression. "I'm not stupid, you know." He scoffed, and before Hunk could interject reassuring that's not what he meant, Lance continued. "You're always putting me down. You say you're my best friend when all you do is bully me. It's really fucking annoying."

"I'm sorry...you know I don't mean to be rude. They're just friendly jokes- you know that." Hunk put a hand on Lance's shoulder, but it was quickly discarded by the boy in blue. Lance opened his mouth to reply, but from the right, small yet becoming bigger with every looming second- heavy breathing caused Hunk to look, and he immediately froze.

"We gotta go. These are the worst ones." Lance tugged on Hunk's arm, but the larger boy was frozen in place- like a deer in headlights. "We don't have time for this-" Lance urged, but Hunk was _petrified._

A shrill scream from the gooey monster, yet matched with the bloodcurdling scream from the human that seemed to be engulfed in the alien goop. The monster opened up, and Hunk immediately felt nauseous.

It was Shiro inside, small compared to the mass of gunk. He was pale, scarily pale, and had multiple open wounds. The leader opened his eyes slowly, and even that looked painful. His eyes were like tunnels. No hope, no _Shiro_ inside them. Hunk could feel the bile dance in his throat as he struggled to suppress the urge to be sick. "Shiro!" Hunk called out to him, and the figure in the goo turned slowly, an inhuman smile on his face. The tears that trickled down Shiro's cheeks made Hunk tear up as well. "We have to save him, Lance!"

"Are you crazy? There's more of that stuff than there is Shiro. And based on Shiro's wounds, if we separated them he'd die anyway." Lance reasoned, and Hunk resisted the urge to puke once again. "But he-"

"I know. It sucks. But we need to leave _now._ If that thing comes after us, the little things do too. And if Pidge was a hassle, Shiro's gonna be hell." Lance yanked on Hunk's arm with more force this time, and the yellow paladin got the message. _Pidge...This happened to Pidge too?_ Hunk could hardly believe what was happening, they took off but the Shiro-goo was just standing there, displaying Shiro as if he was some prize. Quiznak... Not being able to help sucked. He wished he could just yank Shiro out of there, stick him in a pod, and live happily ever after. But things are never easy for Voltron, right?

Suddenly, another shrill scream caused Lance and Hunk to look over. Shiro was gone, it was only this humongous pile of goo left, _stealing_ Shiro from them as it returned Shiro to its core. It wasn't fair, but when that thing decided that it was time for it to exterminate them, he didn't have the time to think about how _unfair_ it was.

Despite it's size, that thing was quick- gaining on them within moments. Hunk was scared, God, Hunk was so scared. He felt something soft scream as he accidentally kicked it, poor thing...he can't stop though. He had to keep running. He had to- _Ah!_

Something gripped his leg, a tendril of the same goo that encapsulated Shiro, but it was smaller. The small alien squeezed onto Hunk's leg until moving was no longer an option and then tighter to stop the circulation of blood. It hurt. It hurt like hell, but somewhere in all the adrenaline Hunk was frozen- unsure of what to do. He hadn't met any aliens with malicious intent other than the galra, so why-

A crushing sound snapped him out of his trance. A gross, squishing and the small sound of bones cracking before Hunk's leg was freed from the tight grip. "Let's _go!_" Lance urged as Shiro inched closer to them. It seemed straight out of a horror movie- but Hunk didn't get a chance to process everything. It was so fast paced. It didn't make sense but it was _happening._ He ran alongside Lance until they reached Lance's lion. But where were the others? They all parked in the same place...

~~

_￦ Don't lose this one too_

_¥- Yes, sir._

~~

"I was barely able to fly the lion over here. Those little gooey things almost had Blue stuck." Lance panted as his lion door opened, providing a quite valid answer on why his lion was alone. Hunk nodded as they ran inside. That made sense, right? But he was still confused. "How did we get split up?"

"I dunno. There was some sort of earthquake and when I woke up everything was gone. Sort of like how you woke up." Lance shrugged as he sat down in the pilot's seat. "Didn't really have time to think when I was being chased by demon aliens, you know."

Hunk didn't respond to that. His friend had obviously been on edge and he wasn't trying to make it any worse. It seemed every time he said something Lance got offended- but...he _did_ say some offensive things sometimes. He shouldn't be annoyed that Lance was sticking up for himself, but it just seemed so-

He heard a faint voice. It sounded like Lance, but not this Lance. He looked around, fake Lance's questions falling on deaf ears. It sounded like it was from far away, but he heard it. His head felt heavy- as if he was in a lucid dream unable to get out.

~~~

_"Ah...he's slipping."_ The soft voice worried, and upon watching the nightmare- she was slipping. Seeing Lance had reminded her- oh god. What had she done? She was still fine, so that meant Lance was okay, right? Maybe that's why it was so difficult to get control over the paladins- their interconnected minds were opposing the control. Maybe it was Lance himself calling out to them that distracted them. Whatever it was, she knew her master wasn't happy. She had to do better, even if it meant neglecting Lance for a little longer.

_"Don't allow him out. We must feed on the fear of Voltron for generations to come. They will be our life resource."_ Her master hummed, deep in thought about the predicament. These paladins...Within this little time provided, they managed to provide a reliable quintessence resource while also feeding the planet. It was...amazing. They can't just let it slip between their fingers. "Do not fail me."

_"Yes, sir"_

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fic on ao3 :) hope I formatted everything correctly. this was supposed to be a daily upload until halloween but I'm already 2 days behind schedule so let's see how this goes, i guess.


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